Strong storms leave major damage in parts of Johnson City

Strong storms left major damage in parts of our area Thursday afternoon. One of the hardest hit areas was in Johnson City, where they saw power lines and trees down.

Jean Matherly lives next door to one home that had several trees land on it she says, “I've have never heard or seen such strong winds in my life. I told my husband at the moment I believe it's a tornado."

Matherly tells us she was prepared in case trees fell onto her home. "I went in and stood beside the bed if I heard anything crashing I was going to go under the bed," adds Matherly.

One home had several trees fall on top of it some of the trees were even pulled up by the roots. Johnson City Power Board Communications Director, J.T. McSpadden says, "We've had a lot of moisture lately and when you get heavy winds coming in that makes the ground really unstable and it makes those tall trees to fall over."

McSpadden says that's the reason there were a lot of trees down in the area. With downed trees come downed power lines. John Gardner and his neighbors decided to take matters in their own hands to protect people from the active lines. "There were no cones or anything to keep people from coming through so we thought we'd just get in the middle of the road so they couldn't come through there's a lot of power lines all over the place," he said.

They even ate dinner in the middle of the road to stop people from driving over the power lines. One thing everyone is thankful for nobody was seriously hurt.

Police officers want to remind everyone if you see any downed power lines you should not get near them or drive over them. They tell us you don't know for sure which of those lines are active. You should also report it if you see any downed lines.